So the wait is over. And the movie of the year is in theatres. For Christopher Nolan films, to watch or not to watch is never the question. And if you belong to the same tribe, you are at the right place. And more so, if you love reading countless pieces about a film that you love. But only counted few films and filmmakers give us the luxury of doing “Everything you always wanted to know about” posts. Cuaron’s Gravity was the last film we did a post like this.
We are trying to make this one the definitive post on all reading material on Nolan and Interstellar. Welcome aboard!
Before Watching
Three must-read articles on Nolan and his cinema –
Caine told him, “I’ll read it and have my driver bring it over tomorrow.” But Nolan, who is notoriously secretive about his projects, said he’d stay and wait. “He had a cup of tea with my wife while I read it,” Caine told me. “I said I’d do it. Then he took the script away, and I never saw it again.” (Nolan defends his predilection for secrecy with the good sense of one of his paternal figures. “We all want to unwrap our Christmas presents early,” he told me, with a tone as sympathetic to childlike curiosity as it was firm in its tut-tutting advocacy of the greater pleasures of deferral. “But we all know we’ll be disappointed if we do.”)
– From NYT’s The Exacting, Expansive Mind of Christopher Nolan
The name of his production company, Syncopy, is the word for the temporary loss of consciousness caused by loss of oxygen to the brain, and all his films, to some extent, use the tropes of the detective film or heist movie to dramatise the twists and turns of consciousness.
– From Guardian’s long read Christopher Nolan: the man who rebooted the blockbuster
And in contrast to the frantic last-minute reshoots of so many big-budget movies, Mr. Nolan’s work is reliable. He delivers films that are remarkably close to what he originally pitched to his backers. They come in ahead of schedule and under budget. Last April, a time when many summer releases were still far from complete, studio executives saw Mr. Nolan’s first cut of “Interstellar”—nearly identical to the one hitting theaters now.
– Ffrom WSJ’s Why Hollywood loves ‘Interstellar’ director Christopher Nolan
– The Physics Refresher You Need To Read To Understand ‘Interstellar’ (No Spoilers). Click here
After Watching (SPOILER ALERT)
– Plot of Interstelar – Read if you are still lost and confused about the film’s plot. In “Prologue and Epilogue: The Fifth Dimension and the Bookshelf at the End of the Universe” and “Love is Science, and Vice Versa”
– The Science of ‘Interstellar’ Explained (Infographic) – All about wormholes, black holes and space-time
– The Spaceships of ‘Interstellar’ Explained (Infographic). Click here
– What Is the Fifth Dimension in ‘Interstellar’? Click here
The one place where I am the least comfortable is on [a] planet where they have these ice clouds. These structures go beyond what I think the material strength of ice would be able to support. But I’d say if that’s the most egregious violation of physical law, they’ve done very, very well. There’s some artistic license there. Every time I watch the movie, that’s the one place where I cringe. I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody that.
– Kip Thorne’s interview is here – Physicist who inspired Interstellar spills the backstory—and the scene that makes him cringe
One of the older women, Murphy Cooper, is played by the actress Ellen Burstyn. But the rest are not actors. They are interview subjects fromFrom Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan’s 2012 documentary “The Dust Bowl,” and they are speaking about their experiences in that real environmental catastrophe, rather than a fictional cataclysm.
– How Ken Burns’ surprise role in ‘Interstellar’ explains the movie (click Here)
– A spoiler-filled look at Interstellar’s ending | Den of Geek
What is Nolan’s secret?
He has his tea in his pocket that he drinks all day. He has a coat with a big pocket and in it, a flask of tea. He drinks it all day. That’s his secret.
– Michael Caine’s interview is here. On Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s Secret, and Drinking With Dylan Thomas
I said, Steven, if it was a contemporary space exploration film, it would be about 15 minutes long. And it would consist of the they all go in to the Appropriations Committee and quietly die, right? We don’t do that anymore. It’s fucking done. We peaked. In the years when the anthropologists come down, they’ll find a little polyester flag in the Moon and they’ll say, fuck, they almost made it. Right?
– Writer Jonathan Nolan’s interview is here
– “Academy Conversations: Interstellar”, followed by a new featurette and a bonus video of Nolan introducing his first film “Following” at the 1999 Rotterdam Film Festival. Click here
– Some interesting trivia on the film’s making #InterstellarHangout – Cast LIVE from Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum
– Christopher Nolan’s Favorite Shot, and How It Reflects What His Movies Are Really About. On Slate
– Interstellar’s Black Hole Once Seen As Pure Speculation. Fifty years after the term “black hole” was coined, audiences and scientists remain captivated. Here
– The plot of ‘Interstellar,’ in 10 TED Talks. Click here
– NASA | Caltech: An Interstellar Conversation – How is it possible to do it in reality (Panel of Astronomers, Physicist, Engineer)
CRITICISM
21 Things in Interstellar That Don’t Make Sense – On Vulture
What the movie gets wrong and really wrong about black holes, relativity, plot, and dialogue – by astronomer Phil Plait. On Slate
It’s showtime, folks! Come to the Master!
(Pic courtesy – via FB. Whoever created it, please come forward and take the credit. Jejus still loves you 🙂
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
